Facebook Conversion Path #2: Over Time

In our last post we met a lead called Maximus and followed him along a Facebook conversion path through multiple marketing offers from the Wicked Good Juice Company. In this post we track him through a second set of marketing contacts before he finally makes a purchase. Maximus is 20 years old, male, and likes the Boston Red Sox.

Over two weeks a Facebook user sees three ads, Googles the domain and buys.

• January 1, 2016: Maximus triggers a Wicked Good Juice ad on Facebook because he fits their customer profile. The ad links to a post on WGJ’s blog – “How Juice Saved My Life and Made Me Fit.” He clicks on the ad, goes to Wicked Good Juice’s blog, reads it, and leaves without opting in.
• January 5, 2016: Maximus triggers a Wicked Good Juice ad on Facebook because he is being retargeted for visiting wickedgoodjuice.com within 90 days. The ad says “Free Report – Top 5 ways Wicked Good Juice is Wicked Good.”  Maximus leaps to get this life-changing information, clicks on the ad, and gives WickedGoodJuice.com his email.
• January 10, 2016 – 6 am:– Maximus goes on Facebook and triggers a Wicked Good Juice ad because he has been added to a custom audience on the Wicked Good Juice Email List. This video ad for “20% off great juice” tells him how great the juice is, and that there is a 20% off sale right now if he clicks on the link in the ad. Maximus does not click on the link but watches the video.
• January 10, 2016 – 630 am: As Maximus finishes a huge stack of pancakes with syrup and whipped cream for breakfast, he realizes that he really needs to eat healthier. Because he remembers the Facebook ads, he Googles Wicked Good Juice, goes to the web site and makes a purchase.

Which ads report conversions?

Facebook will show a different conversion based on the attribution window settings WGJ used when viewing their conversions per ad.  This is one of the many reasons you need to understand what you are looking at before making decisions based on your data.

• If WGJ is using a one-day conversion window, the January 9^th Facebook video ad “20% off great juice” will get a view-through conversion.
• With a seven-day or 28-day conversion window, the January 5^th Facebook video ad  “Free Report – Top 5 ways Wicked Good Juice is Wicked Good” will get a conversion. That’s because when you use an attribution time window, clicks take precedence over views.

There is no actual last click prior to the sale because it came through an organic search. But the video ad was important because it clearly stimulated Maximus to make his Google search.

What will you do to find more customers?

This customer path is a lot clearer than customer path #1. The video ad was obviously the converting ad, but it had no click to report from. Now let’s look at the three questions we want sales attribution to answer.

1. How did your customers first hear about you?

Unfortunately, the content ad “blog – How Juice Saved My Life and Made Me Fit” on Facebook was  how Maximus first heard about Wicked Good Juice. It showed no conversions.

2. What made the customer join your email list?

The ad that made Maximus join the email list was the January 5^th Facebook ad “Free Report – Top 5 Ways Wicked Good Juice is Wicked Good.” Depending on the conversion attribution windows, WGJ may have noticed the conversion, or it may not have been given the proper credit.

3. What finally converted Maximus to make the sale? 

When using a one- day attribution window, Wicked Good Juice will correctly see that the Facebook video ad made the sale. If they used a seven-day attribution window, they would miss the fact that the video is what made Maximus buy. Why? The explanation is simple: Clicks take precedence over views when they both occur in the attribution time window you are looking at 

Next: We’ll see how the data can hide pure gold -- if you know how to find it.